Northern Ireland: Dealing with the Past

Baroness Amos: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has made the following ministerial Statement.
	The Prime Minister has highlighted the need for Northern Ireland to find ways of dealing with the past which recognise the pain, grief and anger associated with it, but which also enable it to build a better future for the next generation. I have reflected carefully on what role I might play.
	This is a complex and profoundly sensitive subject. There are no ready-made solutions. Opinion is divided on some aspects of the way forward. And the pain of victims and their families remains very real. I want, therefore, to proceed in a way which respects the feelings of all concerned and which takes nothing for granted.
	Over the weeks ahead, I will be embarking on a programme of discussions with a wide range of people with relevant experiences and expertise. These discussions will initially take the form of private soundings, which will in due course lead to wider consultation. I will also be commissioning work on relevant international experience, which will cover the sort of processes which others have used in seeking to come to terms with the past.
	Angela Smith, as victims' Minister, has already engaged in careful and detailed consultation about the needs of victims and the ways in which Government and society should respond. She has been speaking to victims and survivors, their representative groups, experts, academics and practitioners in the field. That work will continue and be brought to fruition. I will take full account of it in the discussions which I am setting in train. I will also have regard to relevant initiatives in a number of related areas.

Nuclear Decommissioning Authority: Contingencies Fund

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Patricia Hewitt, has made the following Statement.
	The Energy Bill currently before this House will enable radical changes to current arrangements for nuclear clean-up funded by the taxpayer. The Bill provides for the establishment of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority—the NDA—to deal with the nuclear "legacy", represented by the 20 nuclear sites currently operated by BNFL and the UKAEA and which were developed in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s to support government nuclear research programmes. The aim of the NDA will be to ensure those sites are cleaned-up and decommissioned more safely, securely and cost-effectively and in an environmentally friendly manner. The NDA is to be fully operational from 1 April 2005. The total cost of the programme is some £50 billion over the next century and initially some £2 billion a year. US experience has shown that effective programmes can save in the order of 20 per cent. The Government want to make savings of a similar magnitude through the introduction of competitive practices in the nuclear clean-up industry and by better management of nuclear sites. The NDA's headquarters will be in West Cumbria.
	In order to establish the NDA on schedule, my department proposes to undertake necessary preparatory work. Treasury approval has been given to this. This work relates principally to recruiting—subject to Royal Assent—the NDA board and other personnel, to activities relating to IT and finance systems, to property searches and to a definitive salary and benefits survey. My department considers that making this expenditure prior to Royal Assent will provide a net benefit to the taxpayer, through savings to the public purse to be achieved by the early establishment of the NDA.
	Parliamentary approval for additional resources for this new service will be sought in a supplementary estimate for the DTI. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £500,000 will be met by repayable cash advances from the contingencies fund.

Child Trust Funds Regulations

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My honourable friend the Financial Secretary, Ruth Kelly, has made the following ministerial Statement.
	The Government have today laid before Parliament the Child Trust Funds Regulations 2004. The regulations set out further detail of how the child trust fund scheme will work when accounts open in April next year. They also cover the period from January to March 2005 when the first CTF vouchers will be sent to parents. A draft of these regulations was published on 2 February. Many of the regulations are unaltered from those in the draft regulations.
	Changes that have been made include the wording of the requirement for providers to offer a stakeholder account. This has been revised to allow more providers to enter the child trust fund market. What is in and out of the charge cap for the stakeholder account has been clarified and the number of means of payment required for the account has been reduced in response to providers' feedback. Regulations relating to the content and timing of annual statements have been amended. The regulations now take into account the reduction in the age, from 16 to 10, at which a child can manage their CTF account.
	The Government have decided to make early access to CTF accounts available to children under 18 years of age who meet the criteria for entitlement to disability living allowance under the special rules arrangements for terminally ill people. Inland Revenue and DWP officials are taking forward work on the operational details. Regulations setting out the detail of access in these circumstances will be made after the summer, as will regulations providing for the Official Solicitor, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and the Accountant of Court in Scotland to instruct on the management of CTF accounts for looked-after children for whom there is no one with parental responsibility. Further regulations will also be made for CTF appeals and the corporation tax treatment of CTF insurance business.